Scott Speedman to Star in True-Crime Feature 'Edwin Boyd' (Berlin)

The Canadian actor will play the title character -- a gentleman bank robber -- in a homegrown feature that's being shopped in Berlin.

TORONTO -- Scott Speedman is set to play a notorious Canadian bank robber in the true-crime feature Edwin Boyd from writer-director Nathan Morlando and Euclid 431 Pictures.

Speedman will perform the role of Boyd, a gentleman bandit who rose to 1950s media fame in post-war Toronto for dramatic bank hold-ups and two prison breaks.

The indie Canadian pic is being shopped to foreign buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin.

Also cast in Edwin Boyd is Kelly Reilly as Doreen, Boyd’s wife; Brian Cox (RED) as his father; Brendan Fletcher as Willy the Clown Jackson, a member of Boyd’s infamous criminal gang; Charlotte Sullivan (The Kennedys); and Kevin Durand. Production on the pic will start Feb. 17 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Morlando said his film will follow the rise and fall of Boyd as a notorious Canadian criminal, well before he died in 2002.

"But the heart of the film is a psychological study, and it’s a real personal story and it’s pretty much a love story," he added.

Morlando said the movie’s drama is heightend by Boyd having been a World War II veteran and a family man before he turned into a bank robber on the lam.

Allison Black is producing the film for Euclid 431 Pictures, while Kirk D’Amico of Myriad Pictures holds the international rights. D’Amico will also executive produce, along with Daniel Iron of Foundry Films. Entertainment One will distribute the film in Canada.

Morlando and Black are aiming at a world bow for Edwin Boyd at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.